SPACE Lab [co-creative art-astronomy experiments]
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Physics & Astronomy
Abstract
[Please see attached 6-page case for further details.]
Periastra is about making worlds meet and exploring our place in the Universe through different knowledge systems. In this scenario, science is the empirical and quantitative inquiry, and art is the aesthetic and emotional inquiry of the Universe and our place in it. This proposal recognises that the communication of scientific results is a vital part of academic research and will allow for this. But we also see it crucial to enable first-hand experience on how science is done: we will facilitate creative collisions to experience and discuss the joys, perils, pitfalls and struggles of scientific research and of creating new knowledge. We want to invite questions related to the definition of success and failure and to consider scientific research as a deeply human endeavour that can be done by anyone with an inquisitive mind.
We envision two stages of the project, in order to reach both the general public of Lewisham and beyond as well as young children of the STFC Wonder Initiative. In the first stage, 'Periastra' will facilitate the creation, communication and exhibition of collaborative astronomy researched art to the general public as well as specifically to participating primary school children. In a second stage, these children will co-create themselves in their own settings as well as in the gallery, facilitated by experienced ArtScienctists and creative technologists, i.e., people that are familiar with integrating art and science. The children will be able to exhibit their creations and learning outcomes in the same gallery space as the professional participants and invite their parents and carers to come along. The overall aim for this second stage is to foster curiosity and creativity without the fear of failure and the ability to ask and investigate questions collaboratively based on the themes and explorations of the first stage. We want the children to interact with role models, and have taken care to invite professionals they are more likely to identify with. Children and adults alike will learn that there are multiple ways to engage with a question - by allowing scientific and creative answers side by side. We ask big questions: What is in outer space? How did the universe begin? What are we all made of? How does the world around us work? And what is my place in this all? These questions are universal and engaging with these questions extend beyond formal training.
Together with our project partners, we are able to provide safe spaces for collaboration, creativity, imagination and innovation skills, which are the declared outcomes of 21st century learning (e.g., Nakano 2018) and prominently feature in considerations of employability of today's highly competitive and congested global market (Helyer 2015). However, a comprehensive approach to creativity is hard to teach; nor can "wonder" and "intuition" be taught (Elkins 2017). However, far beyond conventional "classroom teaching", engaging, playing and experiencing joy with aspects of science and art, as we envision and anticipate through Periastra, can foster all of the above.
Our focus on the human, creative and joyful aspect of research we want to discuss the human learning processes through brilliant original mistakes, supporting a re-thinking of the paradox of culture's deep seated fear of being wrong. We want to lead experiences that show that science questions evolve over time and can be created, evolved and answered by anyone - including someone that looks like them or has a similar background. We thus anticipate events for all ages centred around these topics and aim to de-mystify science as an "ivory tower" subject for the "selected few". Children also do not need to know "What they want to be when they grow up" but we want them to understand that the world can be understood through multiple knowledge systems, some that are based on expressions and others based on explanation.
Periastra is about making worlds meet and exploring our place in the Universe through different knowledge systems. In this scenario, science is the empirical and quantitative inquiry, and art is the aesthetic and emotional inquiry of the Universe and our place in it. This proposal recognises that the communication of scientific results is a vital part of academic research and will allow for this. But we also see it crucial to enable first-hand experience on how science is done: we will facilitate creative collisions to experience and discuss the joys, perils, pitfalls and struggles of scientific research and of creating new knowledge. We want to invite questions related to the definition of success and failure and to consider scientific research as a deeply human endeavour that can be done by anyone with an inquisitive mind.
We envision two stages of the project, in order to reach both the general public of Lewisham and beyond as well as young children of the STFC Wonder Initiative. In the first stage, 'Periastra' will facilitate the creation, communication and exhibition of collaborative astronomy researched art to the general public as well as specifically to participating primary school children. In a second stage, these children will co-create themselves in their own settings as well as in the gallery, facilitated by experienced ArtScienctists and creative technologists, i.e., people that are familiar with integrating art and science. The children will be able to exhibit their creations and learning outcomes in the same gallery space as the professional participants and invite their parents and carers to come along. The overall aim for this second stage is to foster curiosity and creativity without the fear of failure and the ability to ask and investigate questions collaboratively based on the themes and explorations of the first stage. We want the children to interact with role models, and have taken care to invite professionals they are more likely to identify with. Children and adults alike will learn that there are multiple ways to engage with a question - by allowing scientific and creative answers side by side. We ask big questions: What is in outer space? How did the universe begin? What are we all made of? How does the world around us work? And what is my place in this all? These questions are universal and engaging with these questions extend beyond formal training.
Together with our project partners, we are able to provide safe spaces for collaboration, creativity, imagination and innovation skills, which are the declared outcomes of 21st century learning (e.g., Nakano 2018) and prominently feature in considerations of employability of today's highly competitive and congested global market (Helyer 2015). However, a comprehensive approach to creativity is hard to teach; nor can "wonder" and "intuition" be taught (Elkins 2017). However, far beyond conventional "classroom teaching", engaging, playing and experiencing joy with aspects of science and art, as we envision and anticipate through Periastra, can foster all of the above.
Our focus on the human, creative and joyful aspect of research we want to discuss the human learning processes through brilliant original mistakes, supporting a re-thinking of the paradox of culture's deep seated fear of being wrong. We want to lead experiences that show that science questions evolve over time and can be created, evolved and answered by anyone - including someone that looks like them or has a similar background. We thus anticipate events for all ages centred around these topics and aim to de-mystify science as an "ivory tower" subject for the "selected few". Children also do not need to know "What they want to be when they grow up" but we want them to understand that the world can be understood through multiple knowledge systems, some that are based on expressions and others based on explanation.
Planned Impact
An important aspect of this project is the legacy of a well-kept website which we consider an open-source database for answering research questions related to art-science collaborations and for the value of art to further STFC science. We are documenting our shared learning with open access and offering avenues for open conversation. Communities, professionals and advocates can get involved by participating in a variety of channels of communication: open publications, social media platforms, by participating in the community calls for talks and workshops/forums where we develop and share projects and insights.
Another immediate tangible legacy will be the creation of a post-exhibition catalogue with an ISBN number. This will exist online as part of the website and also in printed form 'on demand' under the Peecho system. We will print triple fold A4 'take aways' for the public with information about the exhibition's background, context and participants. The exhibition will also form part of the exhibition archive of the APT Gallery. We also plan to organise an opening that includes a panel discussion (virtual and in-person at the Gallery) between contemporary artists and scientists. We envision these talks and discussions to be filmed and embedded on the exhibition website. They could also be presented on the TV channel of one of the curators - Ottica TV.
We plan to write a peer-reviewed research paper, lead by the PI who is already publishing in this area, and inviting co-authors to other participants and external experts, that investigates the value of art in science: In what way does the co-creation influence the scientific research? This will examine Periastra as a case study and use the evaluation processes outlined above. Similarly, an impact report will detail the community-focused aspect of the project, describing the our journey to what we hope to be a joyful creative and supportive environment for young children to learn about and engage with science and technology beyond their curriculum and exploring creative possibilities.
Another immediate tangible legacy will be the creation of a post-exhibition catalogue with an ISBN number. This will exist online as part of the website and also in printed form 'on demand' under the Peecho system. We will print triple fold A4 'take aways' for the public with information about the exhibition's background, context and participants. The exhibition will also form part of the exhibition archive of the APT Gallery. We also plan to organise an opening that includes a panel discussion (virtual and in-person at the Gallery) between contemporary artists and scientists. We envision these talks and discussions to be filmed and embedded on the exhibition website. They could also be presented on the TV channel of one of the curators - Ottica TV.
We plan to write a peer-reviewed research paper, lead by the PI who is already publishing in this area, and inviting co-authors to other participants and external experts, that investigates the value of art in science: In what way does the co-creation influence the scientific research? This will examine Periastra as a case study and use the evaluation processes outlined above. Similarly, an impact report will detail the community-focused aspect of the project, describing the our journey to what we hope to be a joyful creative and supportive environment for young children to learn about and engage with science and technology beyond their curriculum and exploring creative possibilities.
| Title | SPACE Lab [co-creative art astronomy experiments] resulted in seven unique art works co-created by artists and astronomers |
| Description | CO-CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS: Bio-designer Anshuman Gupta, takes inspiration from macro and micro organisms in natural ecosystems to explore a domain of nature-driven innovation in industrial design. His bioborgs translate biofeedback data from plants into tangible outputs, providing real-time information about their physical well-being. For SPACE Lab, he is collaborating with exoplanetary astronomer Amaury Triaud, whose research focuses on circumbinary planets (planets with two suns), and on finding planets that have sizes and temperature similar to Earth. Gupta's BioBorgs, built as biocomputers that imagine a reality where organisms can act autonomously based on environmental threats, respond to Triaud's exoplanetary research into the TRAPPIST-1 system, whose planets are most optimal for evidence of life beyond our solar system. Agi Haines is an internationally exhibiting practitioner, researcher and lecturer whose research looks at the propensity for design to reevaluate the nature of the material of the body in the face of nascent biomedical and healthcare technologies. For SPACE Lab, she is collaborating with Stephen Wilkins, observational and theoretical astronomer from Sussex University and Euclid space telescope astronomer who is focusing on understanding the process of galaxy formation and evolution in the early Universe. Together, they have explored the reasons, difficulties, politics, and moral aspects of sending things to space. Their thought experiments relate to speculative futures of the upcoming European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope. Monica LoCascio is a mixed-media artist focusing on materiality informed by her theoretical research on memory, somatics, fermentation, epigenetics, heritage crafts, and hierarchies of knowledge and power. For SPACELab, she is collaborating with Ulrike Kuchner, astrophysicist, artist and interdisciplinary researcher of art-science, studying how galaxies form, grow and co-evolve together with the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe. This experiment examines the symbiosis of fermented bio-materials (scoby cultures) and salvaged fibres where they have been exploring the fluidity, vulnerability and tension of the organic growth of structures, and the ethics and culture of humans trying to control this growth. Alistair McClymont's installations endeavour to visualise the invisible, to reveal something hidden, or impossible to see. Dark matter makes up most of our universe, its effects can be observed, but it has proven impossible to directly detect. Joint curiosity around its nature form the basis of a number of conversations between the astronomer, Rita Tojeiro and artist, Alistair McClymont. Tojeiro's astrophysics research focuses on large spectroscopic galaxy redshift surveys to understand the content, geometry and expansion of the Universe. A project began with McClymont experimenting with sections of a telescope that Tojeiro worked with to help understand dark matter. From this starting point a discussion around patterns and sculptural forms has resulted in the creation of objects, the goal being to create an analogy of dark matter that can be directly experienced Nicola Rae's art practice includes an expanded field of experiments engaging with scientific processes and phenomena through digital technologies, analogue equipment and found objects. Her installations include sonic visualisation, acoustic equivalence, sonification and feedback loops of acoustic synthesisation. For SPACE Lab, she is collaborating with the Gravity Lab team led by Silke Weinfurtner including Theo Torres Vicente and Vitor Barroso Silviera. They research gravity simulators for black hole processes, developing novel experiments in relation to fluid and superfluid interfaces. Their hydrodynamic black hole simulator allows study of rotating black hole superradiance, ringdown and backreaction. Engaging with Gravity Lab has led to investigating different systems using gravity, vortices, water and acoustic waves. SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design) is an international transdisciplinary collective of artists, scientists, educators and activists that is actively engaged in deconstructing dominant paradigms about the future and develops alternative models through critical inquiry and hands-on experimentation. SPACE Lab will show their work Engines of Eternity that was created in collaboration with Karine Van Doninck, an evolutionary biologist who has studied the unique evolution of microorganisms called rotifers and their ability to adapt to and survive extreme environments. E¯ngines of E¯ternity was first launched to the International Space Station ISS on 5 December 2019 and continues to evolve over several subsequent space missions. It is a unique artwork co-created by rotifers, humans, algorithms and the space environment. Demelza Woodbridge is a multidisciplinary artist who engages with performance, sound and collaborative modes of practice as strategies of resistance to narratives of cultural dominance. Decoloniality combined with a feminist approach inform her practice, and she considers her works as a tool to activate spaces for the potential of the audience to reflect upon their own complicity in the systems that maintain systems of dominance. In SPACE Lab she is collaborating with the Metafuturism Lab led by clinical epidemeologist Mona Nasser including Yvette Gonzalez and Sven Kiefer. The astrophysicists, astronautical scientists, and artists of the interdisciplinary Metafuturism Lab create immersive workshops during which the participants imagine their future lives on existing exoplanetary systems. The participants cocreate and act out speculative future scenarios as science fiction narratives, ideas and methods based on scientific and societal challenges. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | This was a core output of the grant. Impact: a professional exhibition that was visited by about 500 people in Feb and March. Successful opening, private views, gallery walk throughs adn discussion events with professionals and members of the public. We are further working on an exhibition catalogue. |
| URL | https://www.aptstudios.org/exhibitions2223-spacelab |
| Amount | |
| Organisation | London Borough of Lewisham |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2022 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Description | Tech Yard |
| Organisation | University of the Arts London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Tech Yard is a creative computing lab run out of University Arts London. We partnered with them to deliver workshps to schools. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Tech Yard provided support on 6 occasions and paid for the creation of a show reel of outputs from the children the were shown in the exhibition. |
| Impact | 6 workshops in schools, material for children, video shown at the gallery exhibition. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | SPACE Lab workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | During this project and exhibition, an exciting team of professionals have created opportunities for young people from local communities in Lewisham. Tech Yard's Creative Technologist Jazmin Morris has designed and led the 'SPACE Lab: Stars in Your Eyes' and 'SPACE Lab: Hello World' workshops in local schools working alongside astrophysicists Dominic Galliano, Karel Green, CB Tohill and Ulrike Kuchner, with Stemette Julia Piekarczyk andUAL Tech Yard staff. The Metafuturism Lab led by Mona Nasser, in collaboration with exoplanetologists from the CHAMELEON laboratory plus training network and artist Demelza Woodbridge, will engage young people in co-creating and acting out speculative future scenarios as science fiction narratives based on scientific and societal challenges. This was one core aim of this project and is explained in detail in the "Engagement (STFC)" section . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://ulrikekuchner.com/Ulrike_Kuchner/SPACE_Lab.html |